APOLLO 18 (2011): Two spacemen go astro-nuts

While no one in Apollo 18 utters the immortal line to Houston about having a problem, the notion is certainly implied. When Ben Anderson and Nathan Walker land on the moon, they’re immediately confronted with a situation they weren’t expecting, though just how much Houston knows is a different story.

While profoundly silly, Apollo 18 is an effective little thriller in the “Twilight Zone” fashion. I can imagine Richard Matheson writing something like this back in his prime, under the premise that it was compiled from the recovered diaries of the two astronauts. The movie is supposedly edited together from 84 hours of found footage from a secret NASA mission in 1974, taking on the same motif that propelled Paranormal Activity.

The motif is put to good effect, and veteran editor Patrick Lussier does a good job of keeping the film tight while shifting points of view: from the stationary camera outside, to the stationary cameras inside the lander, to a handheld used by the two astronauts, to the camera inside the orbiting shuttle.

Director Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego, in his English-language debut, effectively captures the stark emptiness of the moon. Especially as communications with Houston begin to reveal the truth, the feeling of abandonment persists throughout the film, as the bleakness takes its toll on the characters. This emptiness makes it all the eerier when the astronauts begin to suspect they are not alone.

It also helps that the film looks like a 1974-era recording. While its cousin Paranormal Activity 3 tried to masquerade obvious HD digital video as VHS, Apollo 18 appears authentic. Though the premise requires that the camera be held by the characters most of the time, rather like the first Paranormal Activity, the film is skillfully photographed so that the movie shows us all we need to see while appearing spontaneous.

I won’t reveal just what happens on the moon, but it is at the same time predictable and unpredictable. Predictable, because what they find is not a world away from what any audience would expect. Unpredictable, because the movie mines most of its suspense from the characters and how they react to their situation. No matter what is out there, it’s the onset of madness that is more threatening.

The three actors--Warren Christie and Lloyd Owen as the two moonwalkers, Ryan Robbins as the man in the orbiting shuttle--give believable performances. That they are relatively unrecognizable helps the film’s premise (though if you caught the 2 episodes of “Viva Laughlin,” as I did, the image of Owen awkwardly dancing and singing along to Elton John tracks is likely etched permanently in the dark recesses of your mind).

Though the movie has its flaws--for one thing, it’s never made clear how the footage made it back to Earth, particularly from the handheld camera--it’s a short, sweet, and welcome entry in the found footage subgenre. It may not bring many surprises, but it’s well-made and quietly suspenseful.

*** out of ****